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It Is Never Too Late – Mentoring Others

Yes we are runners. We wake up in a haze and head out the door and come back as cleared minded folks after the cool morning air. We come home from work stressed and have pent-up energy and out the door and come back as complete human beings again. We love it and if we are cautious by not overdoing it and keeping to the laws of a strong upper body then we can have our running human tools last for a lifetime for this great passion of ours.

It is our discipline that is unmistakable that makes us who we are as runners. For many of us the discipline becomes auto pilot to us. So I believe it our responsibility for our overweight or out of shape friends to mentor them and be a role model of such. The answer is not that simple. For one, many folks have no desire to run and if they choose to get fit would they would some other exercise discipline. But for the folks who see us running or know of our love for running and they show a spark of interest I say yes it is our responsibility, although of course this is the writer’s subjective opinion.

I wrote a script of a man who lost his wife who he adored in sixties after they both had just retired. He was a basket case and was close to assisted living as he lost his will to live or take care of himself. His nephew forced him to take walks with him after a year of self hibernation in which he was really unable to care for himself. So he walked and felt better. He never was a smoker and was a wiry gentleman and saw other including nephew running on his now daily walks. He loved the idea of running as he saw the sweat and emotions. His nephew Sam knowing his Uncle had never run before and was a dead man walking just recently tried to deter him and told him to stick to walking. But Mort, my character’s name saw his doctor and surprisingly was just fine and cleared was told go very slowly with some instructions.

So Mort ran and rubbed Ben Gay in his old bones but he had a new lease on life. He had a healthy amount of retirement money and started traveling with his nephew who was a National Geographic reporter. He was running with enthusiasm in every country he traveled with his nephew. It was a transformation a rebirth. It takes people helping people in the world we live in. I believe we runners are special and therefore have a responsibility to help others to feel good the way we feel and mentor potential runners, young and old.

So with our fortune of being athletes with a high level of health, thanks to our love of our poetic movement, we can help others to love what we love and experience the great feeling we feel.

And remember for our obese friends or older friends and even people who are perceived to be way out of shape, it is never too late. So get out there and mentor someone.